After our so-so Day Out with Thomas experience in late July, I wanted to revisit Roaring Camp. While I didn't think a twenty-minute ride on Thomas the Tank Engine was worth the price of admission, the thought of an hour and 15 minute ride through the Redwoods on a 19th Century steam train seemed like fun. I was right!
Roaring Camp Railroads is located in Felton, Calif., near Santa Cruz. Roaring Camp operates two lines - a beach train to Santa Cruz and a narrow gauge train through the Redwoods. Although we originally thought we would take the beach train, we decided it would be too much for the boys to combine it with our first camping trip. The beach train takes you into Santa Cruz, and gives you one to five hours at the beach depending on your return trip.
The train ride is on the expensive side, $19.50 for adults and $13.50 for children (children under three ride free). But if your kids love trains like my boys do, it is well worth it.
It was a warm day, and we opted to sit upfront in an open air car. The ride through the redwoods and up the mountain was mostly in shade, so this was a good choice.The Conductor narrates the entire journey, with stories about the trees and railroad. We learned that a fire in 1977 took out a trestle bridge, and Roaring Camp needed to reroute the line to switch backs up Big Bear Mountain. We past the burned out trestle, and then began this process of moving forward, and backward up a mountain, as the engineer got off the train and turned the switch ... totally cool!
Caleb did have a blow-out diaper on the trip - I can't wait for him to be potty trained. There is a rest stop about 30 minutes into the ride, and there is a public bathroom. Although there really are no facilities for a diaper change, so the 30 or so women in line for the restroom had to pass me doing a messy stand-up diaper change by the sink.
Aside from that, it was an absolutely wonderful trip, and the boys had a fantastic time. They are already talking about doing it again.
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